The Barry Hobbs Collection of Great War Medals 28


A Great War 1918 Italian Theatre ‘Piave Operations’ M.M. group of three awarded to Private C. S. Gavin, Honourable Artillery Company, who was decorated for his gallantry at the capture of the Island of Papadopoli, 25-26 October 1918


Military Medal, G.V.R. (10754 Pte. C. S. Gavin. 1/H.A.C. Inf.); British War and Victory Medals (10754 Pte. C. S. Gavin. H.A.C. - Inf.) together with a small Bronze medallion ‘Presented by the Italian government to all members of the 2nd Battalion, Honourable Artillery Company for the Crossing of the Piave, October 1918’, good very fine (4) £400-£500


M.M. London Gazette 29 March 1919


Crichton Strachan Gavin was born in 1884 at Gillingham, Dorset. A bank clerk by profession, he attested for the Honourable Artillery Company at Armoury House on 8 December 1915 and joined the Army Reserve. Mobilized to the H.A.C. Infantry on 27 April 1917, he was posted to the 1st Battalion on 17 July 1917 and to the 2nd Battalion with the British Expeditionary Force in France on 10 August 1917. Having been admitted to hospital with fever in October, he rejoined the 2nd Battalion, since moved to Italy, on 18 February 1918 and was awarded the Military Medal for his services with “A” Company during the capture of the Island of Papadopoli, or the ‘Grave di Papadopoli.’


The Capture of the Grave di Papadopoli


In late October 1918, in order to facilitate a full scale assault on the east bank of the Piave River, Lord Cavan, O.C. 10th Army, set out to capture Papadopoli, a large island at the chosen crossing point. The History of the Seventh Division, 1914-18 by C. T. Atkinson explains the difficulties faced:


‘This island, about three miles in length and over a mile wide at its broadest, was the largest of the many shoals and islands in the river bed, separated by channels sometimes fordable, sometimes quite deep, through which the stream ran extremely rapidly, as fast as eight miles an hour. What doubled the hazards of the crossing was the incessant and excessive rains had swollen the river into a high flood, submerging completely the tops of the shoals which usually gave some idea where the channels ran.’


The task of capturing the island was given to six companies of the 22nd Brigade of the 7th Division (three from the 2nd Battalion, H.A. C. and three from the 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers) together with a half a machine gun company, all commanded by Lieutenant- Colonel O’Connor. The main assault battalion was to be the 2nd H.A.C. After some reconnoitring, the crossing began with A Company in the vanguard, as described by Canon E. C. Cross in ‘The Defeat of Austria’:


‘Shortly after eight o’clock the first two platoons of “A” Company 2nd H.A.C., under the charge of 2nd-Lt. S. E. L. Foster, started to cross the river. As the companies were bound to arrive somewhat disorganised on the far bank, these two platoons were instructed to push forward some 200 or 300 yards along the front trench immediately they landed in order to secure the crossing for the main party. Absolute silence was to be observed in this operation, and the bayonet alone was to be used to overcome resistance. The passage of the river was safely accomplished, except by two boats, which were swept down stream. The loss of these was serious, as it diminished by fourteen the number of the advance party. The remainder pressed on immediately they set foot on the island. Small posts of the enemy were soon encountered manning the trench. The resistance offered by these was not very formidable, and within fifteen minutes from the time the advance party landed, twelve Austrian prisoners were on their way to the beach, the remainder of the garrison having all been bayoneted. It was a good start and a fitting augury for the fighting which was to follow


The island was defended by two main lines of trenches dug as deep as the soil would allow, which, in most cases, was three to four feet, with a plentiful supply of low hutches in the background, which formed the dug-outs for the garrison. The front line ran along the south-western extremity of the island, and the support line roughly across the centre. Numerous machine-gun positions and trench- mortar emplacements combined to make it a very strong defensive position, whilst in places there were quite formid- able belts of barbed wire,’


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